Advertisement

Plans are underway in Ukraine to honor the pseudonymous creator of Bitcoin, Satoshi Nakamoto, by erecting a statue of him in Kiev. The preferred location for the statue is Shevchenko Boulevard, where a monument to Vladimir Lenin — the father of the Soviet Union — stood before it was brought down during the 2014 Ukrainian revolution.

The Plan to Replace a Lenin Statue Monument to Satoshi Nakamoto

The initiative is being advanced by a group known as the Satoshi Nakamoto Republic. Initially, the group plans to put up a virtual monument which can be viewed using an app when mobile devices such as smartphones and tablets are pointed at a plinth that will be located at the intended site of the statue. The mobile app will be developed by virtual reality firm Raccoon World.

After the virtual monument, the group will then petition the Kyiv City State Administration before launching a fundraising campaign. In the event that the city administration declines to allow the statue to be placed at the preferred site, another location will be chosen.

Eyes on the future

According to one of the founders of Satoshi Nakamoto Republic, Andriy Moroz, the presumed inventor of Bitcoin represents the future while Lenin symbolizes the past.

“The monument to Lenin was a symbol of last centuries that had already passed, leaving conflicting feelings in the hearts of people. Satoshi and the decentralization of society are a new era and new opportunities,” Moroz, who also serves as the First Ambassador of the Republic, told Radio Free Europe.

Besides erecting monuments of Nakamoto, the group has an ambitious plan to purchase an island where the Satoshi Nakamoto City will be established. Additionally, the group aims to start a “virtual decentralized blockchain-republic.”

Any city in the world can bid to host a Nakamoto statue with the winners being the cities which collect the largest amounts of money. Some of the cities that are already in the running include Beijing, Dubai, New York, and Tokyo. The biggest statue of Nakamoto will, however, be reserved for Satoshi Nakamoto City.

There’s no word on what these statues — which are dedicated to a person or group whose identity remains a secret — will look like.

Slovenia’s giant Bitcoin structure

Source: BlockchainMonument

Though this would the first statue honoring Satoshi Nakamoto, the bragging rights for the first Bitcoin monument go to Slovenia, where the first blockchain structure was erected in the country’s fourth-largest city, Kranj, earlier this year. The monument, which is in the shape of a coin, is seven meters wide and weighs three tons. It is located at a roundabout in the city center.

According to the mayor of Kranj, Bostjan Trilar, residents of the city were polled to find out what they wanted to be placed at the roundabout, and the Bitcoin monument was the most popular suggestion. Cryptocurrency exchange Bitstamp and blockchain technology startup 3fs paid for the monument.